Consumers who avoid products with harmful chemicals on the label have lower body burden

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/ssi-cwa092420.php

News Release 30-Sep-2020
Silent Spring Institute

Finding healthier products without harmful chemicals--shampoo free of parabens or fragrance-free deodorant-- is not always easy. It often involves scouring ingredients on individual product labels in search of key words. But is it worth it? New research shows that paying close attention to what's in the products you buy can pay off. In a study led by Silent Spring Institute, researchers found that consumers who avoided products containing specific endocrine disruptors had significantly lower levels of the chemicals in their bodies.

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that are widely-used in personal care and household products. Scientists are concerned about the public's exposure because the chemicals can interfere with the body's hormones and lead to health problems such as reproductive disorders, thyroid disease, asthma, and cancers.

"That's why expert scientific panels and medical societies recommend that people take steps to limit their exposures to these chemicals," says lead author, Dr. Robin Dodson, an environmental exposure scientist at Silent Spring. "And, with the current pandemic, we see how diseases associated with environmental chemicals also make people more vulnerable to COVID-19--yet another reason to reduce exposures in the population."

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When the researchers compared participants with each other, they found:

    People who avoided products with parabens, triclosan, BPA, and fragrances were twice as likely to be in the group with the lowest body burden for all chemicals combined.

    Avoiding certain products and reading ingredient labels was most effective at reducing exposures to parabens, triclosan, and benzophenone-3.

    In contrast, people who tried to avoid products containing BPA had levels similar to those who did not avoid the chemical, which suggests there are other sources of BPA that consumers may not be aware of.

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However, as Dodson points out, some chemicals are hard to avoid because it's unclear what products they're in. For instance, some of the participants said they either avoided products with parabens or used few products overall, and yet they still had high levels of parabens in their bodies. "What this study shows us is that people can't shop their way out of this problem," she says. "This is about much more than consumer choice."

Although requiring companies to be more transparent about the chemicals in their products through better labeling policies could help people further reduce their exposures, this still puts the onus on consumers. "Ultimately, encouraging companies to invest in safer alternatives and strengthening regulations to keep harmful chemicals out of products in the first place would be the most effective and equitable way to protect public health," says Dodson.